Electronic devices, such as personal computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones, often implement wireless local area network (WLAN) technology to wirelessly communicate data using a corresponding WLAN(s). “WLAN” can also be referred to as “WiFi.” WLAN technology is any WLAN product based on one of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11 standards, which operate in the 900 MHz and 2.4, 3.6, 5, and 60 GHz frequency bands. Currently, the 2.4 GHz band is the most commonly used band by WLAN modems. As a result, the 2.4 GHz band is also typically the most congested band.
The 5 GHz band can offer less congestion, but comes with its own set of issues. In particular, portions of the 5 GHz band have been allocated to radar devices in most countries. These radar devices, such as military and weather radar, have priority over WLAN modems. Therefore, in order to use the portions of the 5 GHz band that are allocated to radar devices, WLAN modems are required to comply with Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS), which is outlined in the 802.11 standards.
Under DFS, a WLAN modem is to listen for some minimum listening time, such as 60 seconds, for signals from a radar source on a channel allocated to radar devices before transmitting over the channel. If radar signals are detected within the minimum listening time, the WLAN modem is to vacate the channel and select a different channel to transmit over. If no radar signals are detected within the minimum listening time, the WLAN modem can begin to transmit over the channel. Although DFS allows these channels allocated to radar devices to be used by WLAN modems when available, one of the main drawbacks of DFS is that that the WLAN modem has to stop transmitting/receiving data traffic for the minimum listening time.
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